Campbell Millum joined CLEAR two months ago as vice president of communications, reporting to founder and CEO Caryn Seidman Becker, with a mandate to build out the function.Amid developing policies, messaging and team plans, she said the most important part is "getting deep in the weeds on the business so I can tell the right stories."Why it matters: Communicators need command of the business to spot what matters and explain it to vastly different audiences.Zoom in: "Everything we say lands across over 43 million CLEAR members and audiences who may have little else in common," explains Millum."What connects them is that identity is critical infrastructure. It's communications' job to explain why that matters to each of them."How comms has changed: Millum said she has "stopped treating the ask as the assignment.""Too many people get a piece of feedback from their CEO and sprint in that exact direction," Millum said.Instead, the job is more about having strong relations with other functions in the business "to understand the problem behind the ask and solve that problem. The request is usually a symptom."Tough lesson: "The founder was the first communicator," she said.Millum said it's easy for a comms leader to "come in hot and install new systems, strategies and messaging."Instead, the job is to harness the founder's "voice, instincts and message," while seeing around corners and identifying new audiences and channels.Trendspotting: "A lot of our internal materials need to get longer, not shorter," she said.Millum builds 60- to 75-page core messaging documents meant to serve as source material for AI tools for employees to query rather than read cover to cover."The document gets longer so the output can be shorter and more consistent."Life lessons: "Being around people from wildly different contexts is the best training there is for communications," she said.Millum, who spent much of her childhood in Asia, travels frequently and volunteers with a nonprofit supporting children entering foster care, something that helps her stay grounded and "bring more perspective to my day-to-day life."Currently consuming: Ahead of a recent anniversary safari, Millum read memoirs by game rangers and reserve operators, including "The Elephant Whisperer."Best advice: "Ask questions and keep learning the business.""If you don't know your product, your positions and your vulnerabilities, you will struggle," she said.The bottom line: "Communications is in service of the business, not the other way around."